[FIN]Midnight Watch [Ciaran & Grinsen]

[LexThetaSigma]

SilverLutz

The moon was glowing bright in the night sky as a slow moving cloud came close to covering the only form of light in the area. If the cloud were to cover the glowing ball, the only thing of Ciaran's that would be seen easily would be his eyes, and possibly his mane.

He stood up and stretched out his body before shaking out his mane. He looked around, hoping to spot anything else around him. He had only recently found the lands and hadn't met any of the local inhabitants. If he was lucky, he would be able to find something to eat before the locals awoke and went hunting for themselves.

He let out a wide yawn and continued his scan of the area. He thought he saw something in the distance but he wasn't sure what it was.  

[SilverLutz]

Grinsen rolled onto his side as the moon slowly slid across the sky. Urgh...it was way too hot out tonight to hunt. It was rather large, if not completely full, so it might as well be daylight to most of the animals around. He wasn't terribly hungry, thankfully...just hot. And when he was hot with no way to cool off, he generally got rather lazy.

He dragged himself to his feet and began the slow walk over to the small pool of water he had been using as his water source for the past few days. He liked it in this area: there was a jungle nearby where he could retreat to if it started to rain, there was plenty of prey, and the water was cool. He certainly wouldn't mind remaining here for quite a bit of time.

He paused in drinking as the wind tossed a new scent his way. Grin lifted his head slowly and peered off into the darkness in the direction of the scent. Oh yes...definitely a lion. He could barely make out the other's figure in the sudden darkness of the evening and glanced up, spotting a cloud had briefly inhibited the rays of the moon from helping him out a bit.

"Hey," he called out to let the other lion he knew he was there. "What's up with standing there all quiet? Makes a guy think you're gonna pounce."

LexThetaSigma

Woo! Sorry these took so long. Life decided to throw ALL the things at me.

 

[LexThetaSigma]

When the wind shifted Ciaran picked up a new scent; another lion was out here somewhere. He scanned the area looking for where the scent could have come from when he heard someone call out a greeting.

The cloud had finally covered the light source, but he thought he spotted the other lion just a small ways away from him. And there was water down there.

When he heard the other lion call out a greeting, Ciaran stood up and started walking in the direction of the watering hole. "Sorry about that. I was trying to be quiet just in case there was a herd around." he tossed a smile to the grey male, "Then I would have pounced."

SilverLutz

^.^ That's fine. Life loves to do that. A lot.

 

[SilverLutz]

Grinsen laughed slightly at the comment from the other male and shook his head a bit, fluffing up his mane to look just a tiny bit bigger. You never knew with some of these rouges. He wasn't looking for a fight - he never was - but sometimes other males attacked simply because they were in the same area. Very dull, in his opinion.

"Oh no, no food around here right now," he said as he studied the other lion. "Just some small prey, perhaps. Rodents. The herds are down on the other side of the hill from us, and they should be there all night." At least, that's where they'd been sleeping the past few nights. Grinsen had been following them around the fruitful area of the rouge lands, enjoying the travel as well as the plentiful water and food.

"I'm Grinsen, by the way," he added as the other rouge approached. Giving names was usually a pretty good way to say 'hey, I come in peace, don't try to eat me'. "You can call me Grin if nicknames are your thing."

LexThetaSigma

 

[LexThetaSigma]

Ciaran grinned as he watched the other male laugh and fluff up his mane. He went over to the small pool of water and took a few small drinks before using his paw to wipe off the excess water on his muzzle. This heat had left him running dry much more than he particularly cared for; he couldn't wait until the cooler months came.

Ciaran crinkled his nose at the mention of the rodents but grinned at the mention of a herd. "Think between the two of us we could pick a couple of them off?"

He shook his head to fluff out his own mane and lightly scratched his ear before turning his attention back to the grey male. "I'm Ciaran."

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Grin gave a little 'psh' and waved a paw at the question. "I've picked off a few on my own over the past week or so. Me 'n you teamin' up would equal a buffet for us."

He bobbed his head in recognition as Ciaran gave his name. "You're a big, strong lion, Ciaran...I bet together we could take down an adult!" Adults were far harder to fight, but they yielded so much more food that sometimes it was worth it. Normally a few lionesses could take down a full grown zebra or antelope, but two lions? ...well, it wasn't unheard of.

"What do you think? Up for a late-night adventure?" He certainly would be. Even though it was hot and he was lazy, he hadn't eaten today and the meal he had snagged the previous day hadn't been very substantial. "I am if you are."

LexThetaSigma

 

[LexThetaSigma]

The dark lion could feel himself growing restless and he couldn't stop the slight rumble of a purr from building in his chest at the thought of taking down an adult from whatever herd was out there. If they succeeded, Ciaran wouldn't have to hunt for anything too big for at least a day or two.

Despite the heat, the idea of trying for the little adventure appealed to him. He made sure to take another drink of water to cool down and prepare for the running that would have to be done before turning back to Grin with a small smirk.

"Let's do it."

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Grinsen gave a laugh as Ciaran agreed to try their luck in catching an adult. Great! The lion didn't seem too bad...he could certainly hang around him long enough so they could finish off the kill. It would probably only take a few days, and they'd each be full for quite a while to come. Then they could simply go their separate ways.

"Great! All right, we're downwind of them right now, so we should move while we still have the chance. It's a pretty big herd so we might need to stake them out for a while to pick out which will be the easiest to get with the largest payout." He nodded with his head in the direction of the small hill and turned to trot over to the base of it. Once he approached, he crouched down a bit and slunk up to the top. Once he reached the peak, he laid down to blend in with the gently swaying grass.

Laid out before them was a herd about fifty strong of large gazelle. There were mothers with babies, grown males with large horns, adolescents, elders...and one younger looking but still fairly large male laying off on the edge of the group.

"Ah...how about that one?" he murmured, nodding his nose in the direction of their possible target.

LexThetaSigma

 

[LexThetaSigma]

Ciaran knelt down low and followed Grinsin up the hill, laid down next to him, and looked out of the herd the other male had spotted. He was right, the herd was pretty big; they could probably pick out a few just in case one got away on them. He knew he didn't want to try messing with one of the babies; he did not need their mothers' horns rammed into him.

The adolescents and elders would make for easy picking, if they wanted. Though they would have to wait until something lured them a little further away from the rest of the herd.

When Grin motioned to one of the younger males laying out away from the rest of his herd, Ciaran smirked. "Looks delicious."

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Grin ran his tongue along his lips as he stared out at the male. when Ciaran agreed that it would be a good target, he shivered a bit in delight. Excellent...there were a few others that might make a good back-up, so he began to point them out.

"If that guy slips out of our grasp, there's an older female over there that doesn't appear to have any young. That'll keep her from fighting like a mad elephant. And if she somehow slips out of our fingers, on the other side of the herd, just there, there's an old one with a horn missing. I doubt it'll be able to get away too quickly, so it'll be easy to snag. But let's start with that male...the younger, stronger ones are always so much more tasty."

He wasn't speaking from too much experience. Rare were the occasions where he had tasted young adult meat. Sometimes it was in part to a joint effort, sometimes he scared away vultures from a recent kill. It really all depended on the situation. But he did know his words were true, at least, so if Ciaran had had fresh, strong meat before he would know Grinsen wasn't lying.

LexThetaSigma

 

[LexThetaSigma]

Ciaran looked over the other options Grinsin had pointed out as easy picking. Both of them would make an easy meal if the younger one got away. He was too familiar, however, with the taste of the older adults. It was satisfying, yes, but it lacked the taste of the younger adults. Though he hadn't caught many of the young adults on his own, he had tasted it a few times thanks to other hospitable rogues helping him out.

Ciaran nodded slightly, "Sounds like a plan," he stated, "Now how do we want to go about it?" His brain was telling him to wait for the opportune moment while his stomach warred and told him to strike now.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Grinsen glanced to his side as he waited for Ciaran to agree to his plot and, once he did, he shifted a little to get more comfortable on the ground. He turned his yellow eyes back to the sleeping herd and began to pick out the best routes for them to follow. Having two adult males would really help...one could charge and force the prey right into the waiting jaws of the second. Or they could close in from two sides slowly, or possibly quickly...there were many things he could do.

"Are you feeling terribly energetic?" he asked quietly as he flicked his ear to ward off a bug. Ugh, he hated the stupid little things. So annoying and not even very nutritious. "If so, we can do this fairly simply. You blend in much better than I in this darkness. If you can get around the animals, I can charge and lead the male right to you. You'll have to get a good hold on him and wrestle him down while you wait for me to help, though. It will require a lot of strength on your end to keep him in place for a while."

LexThetaSigma

 

[LexThetaSigma]

Before Ciaran could respond to the other lion, his stomach let out a loud grumble. He hadn't thought it had been that long since he had last had a meal that had left him full. Granted the last few days' meals had been mostly birds and the stray meerkat. His stomach apparently had other ideas as he observed the herd and noted the route Grin spoke of.

Ciaran attempted to hunker down further in the ground as he watched their target carefully. The young male would put up a fight but if he could get his paws around and bring him down, they would be feasting. Ciaran took a breath through his nose and slowly released it out through his mouth. "Let's do it."

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Grin grinned a bit as Ciaran agreed to being the one to take down the prey. "Excellent. Head on out downwind and I'll wait for a few minutes for you to get settled. You'll know once I'm in position...the herd'll wake up and start running. I'll be chasing that one male right to you," he added as he motioned for the darker lion to head out.

"And don't worry, once you get him, I'll be there to help."

LexThetaSigma

 

[LexThetaSigma]

Ciaran listened to Grin's instructions and nodded in agreement with the plan. As long as it went as the other male had planned, they would be fine. Ciaran crouched down, despite the fact that it was already hard to see him, and started to slowly work his way around, downwind of the herd. It wouldn't do any good for the wind to carry his scent to be picked up by the other animals.

He slunk around until he had a good very of the herd and a perfect view of their prey. He got down on to his belly, ready to pounce as soon as the male got close enough to him. Now just to wait on Grinsen.

SilverLutz